Its a Dirty Job...
by Jenny7
Summary: A day in the life of Malik Mcgrath. ER nurse and so much more! :)


"Its a Dirty Job..."  
  
Disclaimer: Lets see...I do actually own a few people in this story. The bum, Jonathan, the woman. Hmm...I guess they don't really have names but I still claim their existance!  
  
Authors Note: I've always felt that some of the nurses on ER are very under-appreciated. So I decided that Malik deserved his own story. This is a day in the life of Malik, who I think deserves a lot of credit.  
  
  
  
He rose out of bed as the alarm blared the sounds of Coolio into his eardrums. Turning on his side, Malik focused on the hour hand. 7. He had to be at work in a half hour.  
Groaning, he rolled out of bed. He stumbled to the closet and found a pair of clean pink scrubs. Pink. He'd begged them to pick any other color, but being the only male nurse on the floor he'd been out-voted.   
A quick shower and a strawberry pop tart later, Malik was out the door and headed for the El.   
"Hey mister...can you spare a dime?" A small frail voice called from the ground next to his feet. Malik looked down and spotted him. This man needed much more then ten cents. He knelt down near him and looked him over with his eyes.   
The bums clothes were soaked through with snow and what smelled to Malik's nose like at least two quarts of burbon. He had stopped shivering and was quickly developing a severe case of frost bite on his hands and nose.   
"Just hang on man." Malik reassured the man as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the three digits. He informed the operator of the situation and then hung up.   
"Can you spare a dime?" The old man muttered incoherently. Malik shrugged and placed a small coin in the man's palm.   
"Don't spend it all on one drink." He said as he removed the frozen man's drenched coat. He slipped his own coat around the skeletal form and waited for the ambulance to arrive.   
  
Two hours and three bumsicles later, Malik finally took a break. The ER had been quiet tonight, but he knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. The night shift always brought some surprises, no matter how expected they were.   
"Hey Malik...red, yellow, or orange?" Carter asked as he passed the admit desk.   
"Planning on dying your hair Carter?" He put his finger to his chin and stared at the man before him. "I'd go with orange to bring out your eyes." Carter gave a quick laugh.   
"Right...that'll be the day." He stopped to hold up a packet of Starburst candy. "Red, yellow, or orange?"   
"Throw me a pink." He replied.   
"But pink is my favorite." Carter moaned.   
"Hey you offered, indian giver." Malik held out his hand and smirked. Carter reluctantly handed the pink square over.   
"I thought you didn't like pink."   
"I don't, I like strawberry."   
Carter gave him an annoyed smirk as he picked up a chart and retreated towards an exam room.   
  
Malik sat back in the swivel chair and was about to devour the starburst when he heard a loud scream. He hurried towards Exam 2 where he found Mark Greene and Lydia Wright wrestling with an enraged woman. At the other end of the room stood Helah, holding a crying baby in on arm and a little boys hand in the other. She could not reach the door to bring the children to safety.   
Malik turned back to the woman just in time to see Lydia thrown across the room and into the back wall. Mark hurried to restrain the free arm but was distracted by a searing pain when the woman's teeth met his left arm. He fell to the floor.   
Malik immediatly threw the door open and grabbed the first person he could find. That person happened to be Susan Lewis.   
"Malik what..." but he cut her off before she could finish.  
"Get security down here now! Go!" He ordered and quickly turned back to the room. He was stunned to find a sudden calmness. Mark and Lydia were now standing in the back of the room with Helah and the children. The woman was now in possession of a scalpel.   
"Stay away from me! Stay away!" She screamed the moment he tried to take a step forward. He held his hands up to show his defenselessness.   
"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt ya. My name's Malik. I'm a nurse." He spoke softly but directly.   
"No! You stay away from me! Your gonna take my kids away from me. Not again! I won't let you do this! I'd never hurt my babies." She began to cry, but her knife hand remained strong. He took too small steps toward her.  
"I believe you. Dr. Greene and Nurse Wright believe you too. No one's going to hurt your or your kids Maam, but I need you to put the scalpel down now. I know you don't want anybody to get hurt." The once firm hand began to shake and more tears poured down the womans face.   
"I don't want to lose my babies.." She sobbed as the scalpel fell from her grasp. It hit the floor and the sound of the metal inpacting tile made everyone in the room sigh with relief. Malik slowly made his way over to the woman as Helah started towards the door. Mark picked up the scalpel and carefully placed it out of reach. He lightly touched Malik's shoulder as he passed and spoke quietly.  
"Psyc will be down soon. She's scizophrenic, quit taking her meds. Will you stay with her until they can take her?" Malik nodded in response and knelt down next to the woman, who was now curled in a ball on the floor. He gently comforted her and helped her back onto the bed, never letting go of her hand.   
  
Five hours. It had been five hours since Malik had woken from his 45 minute nap. The night shift was brutal. They'd only had four traumas come in, two had been DOA.   
Feeling his stomach growl, Malik reached into top desk drawer for the strawberry candy. He'd hidden it there before running off earlier. He was surprised to find that it was no longer there.   
"Damn...this is not my night." He complained just as Chuny made her way to the desk.   
"What's wrong Malik?" She asked as she looked through some charts.  
"Just the usual. Tired, hungry, and somebody stole my starburst." He replied with a huff. Chuny looked at him and smiled.  
"Oh yea, what color?" She asked casually.   
"Don't you mean flavor?" Malik countered.   
"Color, flavor whats the difference?" Malik looked stunned.  
"The difference is that I hate the color pink.." He pulled on his scrub shirt to illustrate. "...and I like strawberry starbursts." Chuny laughed.   
"Well if I see your strawberry starburst around I'll be sure to let you know. Now, theres a kid in 3 who needs an IV. I would do it but I already told Mark I'd assist on an LP." She offered the chart.   
"What no 'please'?" He said.   
"I'm not that desperate." Chuny replied. She grinned and walked away.  
  
  
  
  
"Are you going to stick me with that?" The little boy asked from the bed. From the chart Malik could tell that this child was very sick. He'd been fighting Leukemia since he was ten, three years ago. And he'd just come out of remission for the third time.   
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to Jonathan, but I promise you won't feel a thing." He smiled as the boy rolled his eyes.   
"I know the drill by now." He paused. "Its back isn't it?"   
"Didn't the doctor talk to you?" The boy shook his head.  
"No. He talked to mom and dad out there though." He pointed to the hallway. "Mom was crying. I know what that means." Malik nodded in response.   
"Hey Jonathan, are you a bulls fans?" Malik asked, trying to get his mind off of the disease. The boy looked up and nodded.   
"You know Scotty Pippen was once right here in this very hospital." Malik prepped the boys arm as he talked. Suddenly Jonathan's eyes widened, then grew small and suspicious.  
"No way. Your lying."   
Malik raised his right hand. "Stack of Bibles."  
"Whoa...did you get to meet him? What was he like?" He questioned eagerly.   
"No, actually a good friend of mine met him. And from what he told me Scotty was a very cool guy." He inserted the IV and Jonathan winced but regained his smile quickly.   
"I always knew he would be. I play on my school's basketball team, and I got Scotty Pippens old number on my jersey." Suddenly he frowned. "Guess I won't be able to play anymore huh?" Malik touched the boys shoulder and smiled.   
"Sure you will man.Maybe not on your schools team, but if you ever want to play some one on one I'm up for that." Malik grinned mischieviously and raised his eyebrows. "We can even make it interesting. Say a dollar a game?" Jonathan seemed to consider the offer.  
"Make it two and its a deal." Malik laughed.  
"OK. Two it is."   
  
  
Malik entered the lounge at exactly 7:30 AM. He walked straight to his locker and pulled out his coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. Behind him Mark entered.   
"Hey Malik. You off?" Mark went to his own locker and opened it.  
"Yea." He said as he pulled his hat over his head. "You?"   
"Yea." He threw his bag over his shoulder and shut his locker. He started towards the door, but stopped before opening it. "Hey Malik, you did a good job today. With that mother."   
Malik smiled at the gesture. "Thanks." Mark just nodded and dissappeared out the door.   
  
  
Walking to the El station in the blistering cold very early on a Tuesday morning was not one of Malik's favorite things to do. Passing the bank sign he made a note of the temperature...2 degrees. At least it wasn't below zero...yet. He curled tighter into his coat, which now smelled like burbon.   
"Hey mister...can you spare a dime?" He looked down and noticed the same man from that morning sitting against a mailbox on the ground. He was dressed in warmer clothes this time, the clothes Malik had found in the hospitals stash of blood stained garments.   
"Hey man, what happened to the last dime I gave you?" Malik asked, bending down to the other mans level.   
"Can you spare a dime?" The man repeated. Malik sighed. Looking down he noticed something hidden beneath the man's coat. A closer look told him that it was a jar full of dimes. He laughed.  
"Tell you what...here's another one for your collection ok?" He put the coin into the jar and watch a slow smile creep across the bum's face, the first change of expression he'd seen yet. Turning and heading home, he heard the one almost inaudible word.   
"Gracias."   
He smiled at the dawning realization and continued his trudge for the El tracks.   
  
  
The End 


End file.
